Solar-Powered Traffic Lights
December 15, 2008 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Services
Traffic lights surely require a lot of juice, especially when you’re talking about big metropolises like New York or London. And while cities are rolling out more energy-efficient LED traffic lights, the end result is still a significant drain on the power grid.
The solution: why not rely on solar power? Batteries can always store energy for the night or cloudy days, and utility electricity can become a last-resort back-up. The problem is that the initiative seems to be taken by so-called second- or third-world countries like Turkey, South Africa, and India. (Image and source: treehugger.com)
Solar power is the obvious choice of energy for the future. It is a continuous source of energy and, with solar cell technology improving all the time, we will soon be able to harness more natural light than ever before and store it. This doesn’t necessarily mean we have to replace current energy networks but it means that installations will be quicker to implement and we can use standard energy supplies as back up. Solar will also be cheaper for the consumer, and in this instance, the tax payer.
Yeah thats energy is very good to the poor country. But he price is very high in our country. I m from Tanzania Africa.The people who can aford to buy the sollar electrical system is those who having enough money. So my comment is to open those Industries for sollar in Africa .
Hi Bernad,
There are alot of implications and barriers to entry into Africa. My company, Black Hills Outdoor.com have been trying to import solar charge backpacks into South Africa to help people charge their mobile phones but the import duty on our product is 30%. This means that it removes any margin for us and the reseller and it makes our product more expense. We even suggested sending over the parts and manufacturing in SA but this still didn’t help.
There is no help for eco-friendly and green products which I find madness. I would be willing to reduce margins if we could help people to become self sufficient.
Matt
Hi there Matt, I live in Nigeria and consult in power industry. I will like to have a chat with you regarding developing some business opportunity that has opened up recently in Nigeria for solar powered systems. Please email me with your coordinates. Many thanks in anticipation
i bought these and they work really well. i also bought some for my garden. they accent it really well with the flower design